Int'l Labor Organization Chief Urges Govt to Curb Grey Economy

Guy Ryder, General Director of the International Labour Organisation, ILO, photo by EPA/BGNES

Guy Ryder, Director-General of the International Labor Organization (ILO), has called on the next Bulgarian government to seriously address the issue of grey economy

In an interview for the Bulgarian National Radio, he argued that excessive financial discipline and pay cuts harmed economic growth and consumption.

"You can reduce tax rates and salaries or do whatever you like, but a company will not be successful unless there is demand for what it manufactures. This is why you have to work on improving labor market conditions," he stated.

He went on to comment on the situation in the United Kingdom, stressing that it had an unemployment rate of slightly above 6% and small economic growth, but things looked different upon closer inspection.

"There are nearly 1.5 million people there who work under indefinite part-time employment contracts. Under the contract, a worker may be called to work anytime, with no guarantees about the hours of work they will have to put in. One also has to take into account the quality of jobs because crude statistics does not give us the full picture," Ryder declared.

He went on to call on the next government, scheduled to be elected in October, to work in close cooperation with the social partners to come up with a specific Bulgarian model for success.

"International organizations like ILO are not supposed to come here and give magic recipes. They should only back the measures which the Bulgarians consider most appropriate," he suggested.